Steward: Morgan's Hall of Fame letter did nothing but belittle Joe

–As the Baseball Hall of Fame vote announcement draws closer (Jan. 24), it’s tough to measure the impact of Joe Morgan’s letter to voters not to cast ballots for alleged PED users. That’s because it had none.

–According to Ryan Thibodaux’s excellent and detailed online Hall of Fame Tracker, it doesn’t appear Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will be making the Hall this year. But of those disclosed, each lost just one vote from returning voters who’d previously voted for them, and gained two. We’d call that belittling Joe.

–Strange that Morgan has never once spoken in public to back up his letter. The bet here is that if you took a vote whether Joe even wrote it, you’ve get more than 75 percent approval that he didn’t.

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–It makes you wonder: If Willie Mays and Willie McCovey wrote a formal letter saying "Vote for Barry," would voters pay heed?

–This makes you wonder, too: Maybe in writing that letter, the Hall of Fame should have picked someone other than one of Pete Rose’s closest allies to endorse it.

–A good sign for Bonds and Clemens, even if they’ll be lucky to get 60 percent of the required 75 for induction. Clemens has received 100 percent support from new voters (albeit just nine have disclosed their ballots) while Bonds has received 88.9 percent. Our prediction: By 2020, they’re both in.

–By the way, if Thibodaux’s figures hold based on those who’ve disclosed their ballots, it looks as if this might be the largest Cooperstown class ever. Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Chipper Jones appear to be locks and it’s looking good for Edgar Martinez. Trevor Hoffman is a tossup, while Mike Mussina could be close enough to surprise.

–Curt Schilling? He’s polling almost dead-even with Bonds and Clemens. Beautiful. He’ll hate that, but that’s actually good news for him. Wouldn’t that trio be an incredible induction class?

–We didn’t vote for shortstop Omar Vizquel on the first ballot, but it’s a bit shocking that he’s polling under 30 percent on the Hall tracker. As least he’s moved ahead of Manny Ramirez, who he was briefly trailing.

–Still marveling at all the familiar faces who turned out for the Jon Gruden hiring press conference. Here’s one that may not have gotten mention: A’s manager Bob Melvin. Melvin’s just a loyal East Bay sports fan. He even grits his teeth and continues to support Cal basketball. Somebody has to do it.

–Nice job, Raiders, getting the East Bay behind this Gruden hire by announcing you’re playing yet another home game in another country next season. London? Not jolly good.

–It’s our favorite week of the NFL season, when we blow at least three of our four picks in the Elite Eight matchups. Here goes anyway: Steelers, Patriots, Vikings, Falcons.

–Bargain of the century: Khris Davis, a pre-arbitration $10.4 million settlement with Oakland for 2018. It’s double what he made last season, but it’s still peanuts for 85 homers and 212 RBIs the past two seasons. That’s more in both categories than Bryce Harper or Mike Trout.

–Josh Donaldson got $23 million in arbitration, a new record. Somewhere, John Fisher is saying, "Whew."

–Mark Mulder now has something in common with Jose Canseco: Canned by the A’s as a commentator.

–Clearly, there’s only room for one Bruce in the Giants’ clubhouse, and it’s Bruce Bochy. Sorry, Jay.

–Andrew McCutchen is the preferred choice here anyway, even if he costs a prospect or two. And yes, he should play center field. He can’t be any worse than Angel Pagan or Denard Span, can he?

–Glad we’re not trying to heat anything up on baseball’s hot stove. We turned on the MLB Channel the other day and they were showing "The Christy Mathewson Story."

–That Clippers beating the other night was a good reminder what the Warriors would be without Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, even if they still had Kevin Durant. Nowhere.

–Based on the latest vote totals, it’s looking very much like Curry or Durant will be picking All-Star teams against LeBron James in the new format. That should be fun, probably more fun than the game itself.

–Finally, nice to have the Harlem Globetrotters back in the Bay Area this week. The Warriors, great as they may be, simply haven’t been giving us nearly enough laughs of late.